Enforcement

The 287(g) program authorizes local law enforcement to make an agreement with DHS to conduct certain immigration enforcement activities. Without 287(g), local police and sheriffs generally do not have any authority to enforce immigration laws. The Memorandum of Agreement for 287(g) describes how the program will work and what powers are delegated to the local agency. We have annotated these MOAs to explain what the agreements include and how the program works.

This new policy platform examines how the 1996 laws expanded detention, deportation, and family separation – and outlines a vision for a more just and humane future.

This step-by-step guide will walk you through the steps for filing your first petition for habeas corpus (immigration) in the Central District of California.

For more than two years, advocates have decried Texas SB 4 (2023), a law that creates new state offenses of illegal entry, reentry, and failure to comply with a state removal order. As of May 29, 2026, the law is fully in effect, bringing all Texans and those suspected of being undocumented under the permanent threat of immediate detention and deportation by the state, should they be suspected of violating the law. Texas SB 4 represents an unheard-of state usurpation of federal law, violating constitutional principles and norms that govern how states interact with the federal government. This policy brief breaks down the law and shares how communities can best prepare for a world with Texas SB 4 on the books.

As 287(g) agreements rapidly expand across the country, more law enforcement agencies are being radically transformed into a sweeping immigration enforcement machine. Police agencies are choosing to enter into the most expansive and harmful 287(g) agreement available, the Task Force Model. This policy brief provides a breakdown of the Task Force Model and how it provides carte blanche for rampant racial profiling, unbridled civil rights abuses, and little to no federal oversight.

Shortly after the Trump administration took office in 2025, the government began its directives to ramp up immigration raids and public operations across the country. These large-scale campaigns of mass deportation further exploded after the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”, or H.R. 1, ballooned the DHS budget to an astronomical $170,700,000,000 of taxpayer dollars over the next four years; creating a new annual ICE budget that is larger than the entire defense budgets of Italy, the Netherlands, Brazil, and Switzerland.

This step-by-step guide will walk you through the steps for filing your first petition for habeas corpus (immigration) in the Northern District of California.

This explainer offers information for both noncitizens and U.S. citizens about the possible impacts of their social media online presence.

This step-by-step guide will walk you through the steps for filing your first petition for habeas corpus (immigration) in the Eastern District of California.

When an immigration judge denies bond based on a finding that a person is a danger to the community or a flight risk, what options remain to challenge that decision? As immigration detention expands and bond denials become increasingly common, federal court litigation is emerging as a critical tool to obtain judicial review of these determinations.